Review Article
Laboratory Diagnosis of Invasive Aspergillosis: From Diagnosis to Prediction of Outcome
Table 2
Main approaches to laboratory diagnosis.
| Test | Specimens | Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Direct microscopy | Respiratory | Low cost | Insensitive, labour intensive | Culture | Respiratory, tissue | Low cost, enables further analysis | Insensitive | Histopathology | Tissue | Enables proven diagnosis | Requires biopsy tissue | Galactomannan (GM) | Serum, BAL | Sensitive, specimens easy to obtain | Lacks sensitivity in patients on antifungals | β-D-glucan (BDG) | Serum | Sensitive, specimens easy to obtain | Lacks specificity | PCR (DNA detection) | Any | Sensitive, can be applied to any specimen | Labour intensive, expensive |
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